Whether
Mother's Finest was more rock-minded or R&B-minded on a particular album usually had a lot to do with what label the band was recording for at the time and who was in charge in the A&R department. Some A&R men wanted
Mother's Finest to be an urban contemporary act and cater to black radio's tastes, but on
Iron Age, MF was clearly going after the heavy metal/hard rock audience of the early 1980s. MF never sounded more focused and inspired than it does on this excellent LP, and forceful gems like "Rock 'N Roll 2 Nite," "U Turn Me On" and "Movin' On" indicated that MF should forget about what black radio was playing and simply concentrate on being a great metal/hard rock band (which is what it really wanted to be, anyway). Black radio, which had been a strong supporter of MF's 1978 hit "Love Changes," wasn't about to play an album this metal-oriented -- and sadly, rock radio ignored it as well. With the right promotion,
Iron Age could have made MF a big hit with the
Quiet Riot/
Judas Priest/Scorpions crowd, but the album was a commercial flop instead of the big commercial breakthrough that it should have been. Nonetheless, the fact remains that this out-of-print LP is among MF's most rewarding albums and is well worth hunting for if you fancy yourself a metalhead. ~ Alex Henderson